美語情景對話 第401期:Rare Food 珍稀食物

Todd: So, Greg, in your travels have you ever eaten any wild food?

託德：格雷格，你在旅行中有沒有吃過野生食物？

Greg: Oh, yeah, in Thailand I ate a lot of different wild food. One time, I had a really unusual experience. I was with one of the teachers from my school, and a couple of his friends and those guys are hunters. We went into the rain forest of Thailand, and we slept that night in an old tin mine.

格雷格：吃過，我在泰國旅行的時候吃過很多種不同的野生食物。我有過一次非常不同尋常的經歷。當時我和學校的一名老師、他的幾個朋友還有其他人一起去打獵。我們去了泰國的雨林，那天晚上我們在一箇舊礦山睡的覺。

Todd: A tin mine? Was it open, or was it still?

託德：礦山？是開放的還是已經廢棄了？

Greg: No, it was closed down, there were still a couple of old buildings there and you could have a fire. It was very exciting, and then in the morning, we went walking through the woods, but actually in the rain forest, it's really hard to walk. The only place you can really walk is through, up the river. There are so many thick branches,... but I was taking a photographs, at one point in the forest, and I saw in the corner of my eye my friend suddenly pick up their rifles and the were shooting at something in a tree, and then this animal came down, and I was amazed. It was a, in Thai they say "mi meow", which means bearcat, very low to the ground, thick fur animal and it came running down the stream towards me and my friends were shooting. At first, I was all, "Oh, this is so interesting" taking a picture and then I thought, "Oh, my God! This wounded animal is coming towards me and that is the most dangerous animal, and they kept shooting and it actually died about one meter away from me.

格雷格：不是，已經關閉了，不過那裏還有很多舊樓，所以可以在那裏生火。那真是太刺激了，之後第二天早上，我們要穿過樹林，可是實際上雨林裏面的路非常難走。你唯一可以走的地方就是穿過河流。那裏有很多粗大的樹枝……，我在雨林里正在照相的時候，用眼角餘光看到我朋友突然拿起他們的步槍向樹上的某個東西開槍，之後就有一隻動物掉了下來，這讓我感到很驚奇。在泰語裏他們稱那種動物爲"mi meow"，實際上就是熊狸，這隻擁有厚厚的皮毛的動物被打到地上以後，便衝下小溪向我跑過來，然後我的朋友們就一直開槍。剛開始我想“哦，這太有意思了”並照了相，之後我在想“哦，天哪！這隻受傷的動物正在向我跑過來，那可是最危險的動物，而我朋友們一直在衝它開槍，這隻動物在離我一米的地方被打死了。”

Todd: Whoa! It almost got you!

託德：哇！它差點就碰到你了！

Greg: Yeah, and my friends

格雷格：對啊，我的朋友們……

Todd: It wanted revenge.

託德：它想報復。

Greg: They should have gone to the hunters.

格雷格：它應該去找那些獵人。

Todd: Right. Right. Wrong guy.

託德：對，沒錯。它找錯人了。

Greg: My friend's tied the bear up to a piece of bamboo and carried it back through the forest to where we were camping, and they cut up the meat and they cooked it, very hot and spicy Thai dish. It was delicious, and the next day, they brought the rest of the meat back to their village, and I thought it was very interesting, but then the next week, I went into another town and I saw an exhibition about endangered animals in Thailand, and that animal was an endangered animal, (Oh!) so I felt really bad about it, afterwards. (Yeah) I would never have eaten an endangered animal if I had known.

格雷格：我朋友把這隻熊狸綁在了一根竹子上，然後帶着它穿過森林，把它帶回了我們露營的地方，他們把肉切開做成了麻辣的泰國食物，非常好吃。第二天，他們把剩下的肉帶回了他們的村莊，我想那很有趣，可是第二週，我去另一個城鎮看了一場有關泰國瀕於滅絕的動物的展覽，而那隻動物就是一種瀕臨滅絕的動物，（哦！）所以我感到很過意不去。（是啊）如果我知道，我是不會吃瀕臨滅絕的動物的。

Todd: Wow! Man. Well, you know, at least you didn't pull the trigger.

託德：哇！夥計，你知道，至少你沒有扣動扳機。

Greg: That's true. I used the chopsticks.

格雷格：那倒是。可是我動了筷子。

重點講解：
1. close down
（工廠、商店、學校等）永久性關閉；（使）停業；（使）倒閉；
eg. When they did leave, it caused the local supermarket to close down.
當他們真走了之後，當地的超市也隨即關門了。
eg. They wanted to close down the railway line, but hundreds of people objected.
他們想停止使用那條鐵路線，但遭到數百人的反對。
2. pick up
拿起；提起；拾起；撿起；
eg. Send an email or pick up the phone and call those people you wish to see over the holidays.
給那些你想在節日裏見到的人發郵件或拿起電話打給他們。
eg. They depend on the goodwill of visitors to pick up rubbish.
他們相信遊客會自覺撿起垃圾。
3. at first
最初；起初；開始時；
eg. The finding was at first puzzling.
該發現起初讓人感到困惑。
eg. At first progress was slow.
開始時進展比較緩慢。
4. cut up
切碎；切開；
eg. The woman cut up the watermelon and shared it out among the four boys.
那婦人把西瓜切開，分給四個孩子。
eg. Scraps of material were saved, cut up and pieced together for quilts.
邊角碎料都保留下來，剪好後拼在一起做成被子。
5. at least
（表示相對於不利條件或糟糕情形）起碼，不管怎樣；
eg. At least you made that speech.
起碼你還發表了那番演說。
eg. At least this second meeting had helped to thaw the atmosphere.
這第二次會議至少起到了緩和氣氛的作用。